So you’ve got a brand new iPhone 3G S and you want to know if you can use the AT&T tethering workaround everyone’s been talking about? Yes, yes you can. It’s all remarkably easy. It’s almost like Apple wants us to use this workaround — at least that’s the story I’m telling myself.

The good folks over at 9to5 Mac have the step-by-step guide, but essentially all you need to do is run a quick terminal command to turn on the preference in iTunes, download an iPhone carrier update file, restore the iPhone, and as Steve would say, “Boom.” You’re all set to start tethering, just navigate over to Settings ? General ? Network ? Internet Tethering on your iPhone and throw the switch to the “On” position. If your Bluetooth isn’t running at the time, it will generously offer to switch that on for you. At that point, just connect your phone to your laptop through Bluetooth (if you haven’t connected before you will have to pair them) and you’ll be sharing some 3G goodness.

All told, it took about 5 minutes to get it working. I did a quick test checking e-mail, browsing around, etc., and the speed over 3G was pretty good. Right after the connection was established, I did happen to get a nice little welcome SMS from AT&T, but I don’t know if that was coincidence or by design. I’m assuming the message was just the normal welcome everyone gets with a newly activated phone, and that it just happened to be remarkable timing.

It’s unclear what implications the use of tethering in this manner will have for your monthly bill from AT&T, so please use at your own caution. It’s at least nice to know though that I can use it in a pinch if needed. Hopefully AT&T will soon catch up with the rest of the iPhone providers and establish an officially supported way to take advantage of this functionality.

Worth noting is that some users have experienced trouble with their visual voicemail following this procedure. If you do have trouble accessing that feature, simply navigate to Settings ? General ? Network ? Cellular Data Network and within the Visual Voicemail section add “acds.voicemail” into the APN field. Once that is done, you will be able to once again use your visual voicemail.

]]>Despite shorter lines in fewer countries than last year’s launch of the iPhone 3G, the iPhone 3G S may yet perform nearly as well, at least during the first weekend of sales. Via AppleInsider, AT&T spokesperson Michael Coe has been quoted as saying AT&T “sold hundreds of thousands through our preorder process prior to the launch, which exceeded our own expectations for iPhone 3G S.”

While Cole did not confirm a number in excess of 300,000 for the iPhone 3G S, even 250,000 from AT&T would significantly boost sales numbers for the weekend. Apple itself, through preorders and its own retail outlets, will certainly sell more than AT&T. Additional sales will also be coming from new iPhone retailers Best Buy and Wal-Mart, so shorter lines at Apple stores this year are not necessarily indicative of slower sales compared to the iPhone 3G last year. In light of the news from AT&T, it’s now reasonable to assume initial sales of the iPhone 3G S will exceed expectations.

Philip Elmer-DeWitt at Apple 2.0 reported on a research note from Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster, in which the analyst suggested Apple would sell about 500,000 units. RBC analyst Mike Abramsky is predicting sales between 500,000 and 700,000 this weekend. In comparison, the original iPhone sold 270,000 units in its first weekend, while the iPhone 3G sold more than a million. Considering the iPhone 3G S is selling in eight countries, vs. 21 for the iPhone 3G, it seems unlikely that the iPhone 3G S will break the record of its predecessor. Still, these initial numbers augur well for the quarter.

Currently, Gene Munster projects sales of 5 million iPhones, both the 3G and 3G S, in the current quarter, and 7 million in Apple’s fourth fiscal quarter beginning in July. However, if the initial surge of pre-orders from AT&T is indicative of a larger trend, that number will be revised sharply upward. Other indicators of that trend include a new report from ChangeWave Research, via Apple 2.0.

According to ChangeWave, interest in the iPhone 3G S is now 44 percent, up from 30 percent in March. In contrast, interest in BlackBerry devices is now 23 percent, down from 37 percent. According to NPD, RIM sold 7.8 million units last quarter, up nearly 50 percent from the year before. If sales of BlackBerrys are up, while interest is waning, perhaps 7 million iPhone sales is too low an estimate for next quarter, let alone the holidays.

There is already a lot of noise over this all around the ‘net. Owners of the iPhone 3G saying they’re getting ripped off, or not being treated like “loyal customers,” because they’re not being offered the fully subsidized price for the new iPhone 3G S. In reality the AT&T upgrade pricing is pretty much like all phone subsidies in the U.S. (and, for that matter, many other parts of the world). Actually, it’s a little better.

The unsubsidized price of the iPhone 3G and S models is $599/$699. The ones complaining most are iPhone 3G buyers who bought it for $199 shortly after its launch last July. Even then, they’ve only had the phone for 11 months. They have less than one year completed on a two-year contract. At best, they’ve only “earned back” half the $400 subsidy, yet they somehow feel entitled to it all, as if AT&T should just swallow the remaining $200.

For all the complaints about being ripped off, the truth is AT&T is actually being pretty good about this. When 3G owners have a year under their belt, AT&T is willing to say, “You owe us another year of subsidy ($200), but if you ink a new 2-year contract for the 3G S we’ll provide you the second year’s subsidy ($200).” That’s why 3G owners are being offered the new models at $399/$499 when they hit their 1-year anniversary.

Why do I call the above “pretty good”? Because typically you have to go 18 months or more before a carrier is willing to provide a subsidy for a new purchase. That AT&T is willing to do so at 12 months is about as “generous” as a U.S. carrier gets. Yes, it’s only half the subsidy, but you only completed half the time on your current phone.

I’m not asking you to agree with the subsidized sales model, or be happy about it. Nor am I trying to convince you it’s good — none of that is the point. The point is it’s the model we have, and a 3G owner is not paying extra or getting ripped off because of it. Do the math. If you bought the 3G at $199, and one year later bought a new 3G S at $399, at the end of that new 2-year contract you’d have paid $600 for both phones, and received $600 in subsidies. That amounts to $200 in subsidy for each year, which is exactly what AT&T offered you in the first place (and what you agreed to).

What’s strange about all this is that, even though this upgrade maze exists with all carriers, only Apple makes a phone so compelling people want to get a new one after only a year, so the upgrade policy is getting the spotlight on it and grabbing all this attention. Maybe the outcry will compel some changes in it, though it’d likely require all the carriers to come on board for it to work.

Meanwhile, this is generally the way it is for any heavily subsidized phone on any carrier. If someone buying a Palm Pre or BlackBerry Storm with full subsidy today thinks they can get that same full subsidy on a newer model before putting most of their time in, they’re kidding themselves.

]]>Earlier this week, Apple held its keynote address for the annual Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC). At the event, it announced many things, including new upgrades and pricing for its notebook lineup, official and final details regarding OS X Snow Leopard and iPhone OS 3.0, and a new iPhone, the iPhone 3G S, which borrows a lot from its predecessor the iPhone 3G. So much so, in fact, that many are questioning the value of upgrading to the new hardware, especially given that it may cost existing AT&T customers as much as $699 to do so.

As a general tech enthusiast, and an Apple fan, I’m considering the upgrade myself, despite the fact that pricing could be even more expensive here in Canada, where iPhones come with lovely three-year contracts, and I only just purchased my iPhone 3G 11 months ago. However, the upgrade pricing is not all that ridiculous when you consider the cost of the hardware and how massive the subsidies are when you buy the contract along with the phone. If you have the money, and if the hardware is worth it, then there’s nothing to complain about.

But is the hardware worth it? At least, can it bring something to my work and professional life that I couldn’t get with the iPhone 3G? The answer to this question could go a long way to helping me decide whether to upgrade or stick with what I’ve already got. Here are the factors to consider, in my opinion.

7.2 HSDPA Support

I’m not sure if AT&T’s network even supports these speeds yet, but Rogers (and Fido, its subsidiary) definitely does here in Canada. In theory, that means the iPhone 3G is only using a fraction of the available network speed on offer. I’m generally fairly satisfied with my data and network speeds with the current 3G, but there are definitely some times where it feels like there’s an undue amount of toe-tapping while I’m waiting for a page to load or large email with a lot of attachments to send. I’d like to hear from other users about this first, but it could be a big plus in favor of the 3G S.

Video Recording, Editing & Sharing

As it stands, I don’t do much in the way of video professionally, although there are times when recording short clips would very much come in handy. This could easily be a feature that goes primarily unused, as is the case with my current iPhone’s camera (I have regular digital cameras that are much more suited to any of my photographic needs), but it could also be a game-changer with regards to the type of content I produce for the blogs I contribute to. Like 7.2 HSDPA, this is a wait-and-see thing, but in this case, I’ll never find out unless I try it myself.

Enhanced Security & Data Protection

Hardware encryption was something that business users clamored for, and the 3G S provides it. It’s definitely a plus for anyone who uses their phone for conducting business or storing sensitive information, so this is definitely a tick in the “Pro” column. Not only that, but the new “Find My Phone” and “Remote Wipe” capabilities make sure that even if you do lose your device, you’ll have safeguards in place to help you recover it, or, failing that, prevent the information from falling into the wrong hands. Both of those are iPhone OS 3.0 software features, though, so they will be available to existing iPhone 3G customers and can’t count in favor of buying a brand-new device.

Faster Load Times

Apparently, apps running on the iPhone 3G S should boot about one and half times faster than they currently do on the iPhone 3G. I’m not particularly put out by any lag issues on my 3G running the iPhone 3.0 OS, but extra snappiness is always appreciated in any computing device, so it’s a plus.

Better Battery Life

Even if the gains aren’t revolutionary, any improvement over the current iPhone’s dismal battery life will be very much appreciated. I recently acquired a Mophie Juice Pack Air to try to stave off total battery drain for as long as possible, but it should fit the 3G S, too. Combined, the new phone and the Juice Pack should give me something near a usable amount of run time.

Overall Value

Does the 3G S really bring that much to the table? No, not if you consider how many new features will be available to 3G users via the OS 3.0 software update. Will I probably buy one anyway? Yes, because I earmark a certain amount of budget for things like this because of the nature of my work, and because the few new things it does bring to the table might just help me add a revenue stream or two to my existing portfolio, or at least help me work longer, more safely, and more efficiently on the go from my phone. Also, I really want one, because it’s shiny and new.